The Mother
by AnimatedRosie
Summary: "'Sora, Dinner's ready,' Kioku called. No answer. She wouldn't be surprised if her son was napping again. 'Come on down,' she shouted. More silence. She looked out the window. The storm was rolling in, more sinister now. 'Oh no.' Panic filled her voice now. 'Sora' But he was already gone." What happens to Sora's mother, the character with only one line? See her emotional journey
1. Chapter 1

"Mommy, Mommy, guess what?" said a small voice coming from the front door. Kioku turned away from the dinner she was making just in time to see her son, Sora, plow through the front door, leaving it open. Her husband was close behind, brushing off his feet from the sand and closing the door in his child's wake.

"What happened, Sora?" Kioku giggled. Her son had just returned from a day on the island where he and his friends played. Her husband had brought them back on his rowboat.

Sora was beaming. "Me and Riku saw a lady with blue hair!" he said. That was odd. Kioku didn't know of anyone with blue hair on the islands.

She quickly gave her husband a kiss on the cheek before answering her son. "Are you sure she didn't have grey hair, like the lady from the library?"

Sora adamantly shook his head. "No," he squeaked. "She wasn't old. And she was really pretty!" Kioku knew she had to teach him that words so blunt could be insulting, but she decided against it for the time being.

"Did you talk to this pretty blue-haired lady?" Kioku said to her son.

"Yep!" Sora answered. "She said I need to keep Riku safe, and make sure he doesn't go the wrong way."

"'Go the wrong way?'" Kioku said, scooping her son up into her arms as he giggled. "You mean, make sure he doesn't get lost?"

Sora thought for a moment and replied, "Yeah, something like that!"

Kioku gave her son a kiss on the top of his head and set him back down on the ground. She watched as he ran up to his room, a ball of energy.

She had been noticing something different about Sora in the past few weeks. While he was obviously the son of Kioku and his father−with her blue eyes and his father's light brown hair−there was just something about him−from his looks to his mannerisms−that she knew Sora didn't inherit from either of them.

A few days later, a girl Sora's age with ruby red hair washed up on the island.

**A/N: **Ok, so upon finishing KH3D, I found that I had maternal instinct sense tingling for Sora and Riku. Which, of course, led me to remember the _"Dinner's ready!" _line and how Sora never once thinks of his mother throughout the course of any of the games. And then feels happened. And then _this_ happened.

This story will focus on Sora's mother, Kioku, and her thought process as she waits for her son to come home. I chose that name because, according to google translate, Kioku means "storage" or "memory," which will become important later on in the story.

I'm planning on making each chapter correspond to a game in the series, going in chronological order. I hope you like!


	2. Chapter 2

"Sora! Breakfast is ready!" Kioku called up to her son's bedroom. She set out his plate as she fixed herself a cup of coffee.

A few minutes passed. "Sora! Get up! It's almost ten o'clock!"

A few more minutes passed. No answer.

Kioku sighed and made her way up the staircase that led to her son's room. She could hear his snoring from only halfway. _Teenagers,_ she thought.

She opened the door to find Sora still completely asleep, head under the pillow, one foot hanging off the edge of the bed. His covers were on the floor.

Another sigh. Kioku shuffled over to the window above her son's bed. Simultaneously, she opened the shade and pulled the pillow away from Sora's face.

"AAGH!" Sora shrieked as the morning light hurt his eyes.

"Breakfast is ready, Sora. Get your lazy self downstairs. It's five after ten."

"Ugggghnnnn…"

Eventually they were both downstairs, eating their breakfast in relative silence until Kioku brought up the elephant in the room.

"I hear you, Riku, and Kairi are going on a little adventure tomorrow," she stated.

Sora froze mid-chew. They hadn't exactly discussed the plan yet. He swallowed his food before replying, "Uh, yeah, Mom. We've been working on a raft." He paused, but there was no response. "We're just gonna see how far it can take us."

Kioku stared at her coffee mug, which was now nearly empty. More silence.

"You honestly can't think I approve of such a thing," the mother remarked.

Sora squirmed a bit in his chair. He stammered, "D-does that mean I can't go?"

Kioku kept her eyes fixed on her coffee mug. She said, "The thing is, even if I say no, you'll go anyway."

"That's not true."

"Yes, it is."

"Okay maybe a little true," Sora said, staring at his half eaten plate of eggs.

The silence returned.

This time, Sora broke it. "We'll be back by the time school starts," he said. "And you know we'll be careful!"

"Your father said the same thing." That hit home for both of them.

Six years earlier, when Sora was eight, his father embarked on a fishing trip with some of his buddies. An unexpected storm had sunk their boat. He didn't make it back.

Kioku kept speaking. "Why do you even want to go?"

Without even thinking, Sora answered, very assuredly, "It's important to my friends." As he looked his mother square in the eye, he had the most sincere expression on his face. It was one of care. Of earnestness. Of unyielding will.

Kioku studied her son's expression. She couldn't−wouldn't−convince him to stay.

"Fine," she finally said, "Just let me know if you need any food for when you're gone."

"YES!" her son exclaimed. He shoveled the rest of his eggs in his mouth, and searched the house for the oar to his rowboat. "Don't worry! We're getting all the provisions today," he said, his mouth still full of food. With a kiss on his mother's cheek and what was almost a skip out the door, Sora screamed, "Love you!" and left the door wide open.

Kioku thought to herself, _Riku's parents are right. They won't make it three days._

It was night. Almost dark. A storm was pushing through on the horizon. _I hope that passes before they leave tomorrow,_ Kioku thought.

She was putting the final touches on the pasta she made for dinner, Sora's favorite. She began to set the table. It was usually Sora's job, but she wanted to baby him just one more night before he left on his big adventure. She started to tear up at the thought of her son finally growing up. _It's alright!_ She told herself. _He'll only be gone for three days at the most. It's not like it's the end of the world._

"Sora, Dinner's ready!," Kioku called. No answer. She wouldn't be surprised if her son was napping again.

"Come on down!" More silence. She looked out the window. The storm was rolling in; It looked quite a bit more sinister now. _Oh no._

Panic filled her voice now. "Sora?" _Still no answer._ Kioku ascended the same stairs she had climbed that very morning, but with far more purpose.

She reached the top of the stairs. The bed was empty. The window, open.

_Sora._

And then, darkness.


	3. Chapter 3

Kioku didn't know how long the darkness lasted. I could have been an hour, it could have been a year.

All she knew was a sense of panic.

There was a freezing inside her chest. It was painful. Horrendously, awfully painful. It was as if someone had ripped her open and filled her insides with ice.

So she did the only thing she could−worry.

_Where is Sora? Is he alright? Is he here too? Should I look for him? How could I look for him?_

Time passed. The freezing began to lessen.

_Where am I? Am I still alive? I can't see anything. Is Sora here? I hope he's not. _

A minute. An eon. As the chill receded, a warmth filled its place.

_Will I ever get to see my son again?_

A light shone in the distance. It was not remarkably bright, nor did it reach Kioku's eyes without some effort. But she did see it, and it was very much there.

Instinctively, she began to move toward it.

The light grew in luminosity, ever so slightly.

Kioku started running.

Her chest was burning now. A pleasant burn.

She sprinted.

The light grew.

She extended her arm toward the source.

Kioku woke up on the floor of her kitchen.

**A/N**: Thank you all for the very positive feedback! Sorry for the short chapter. It's necessary!

With that being said, my aim is to make this fit in to canon as snugly as possible. Unfortunately, that doesn't give Kioku much room to be a very _active_ character. However, I will do my best to make it seem like she's not doing completely _nothing._

I hope you continue to enjoy reading this as much as I am writing it!


	4. Chapter 4

The nightmare haunted her for months. In fact, Kioku's ominous dream even altered her everyday activities. She stopped going out after dark. She began to sleep with a nightlight. Never before had she so much regretted living alone.

Kioku didn't think much of the fact that her load of laundry had suddenly decreased by half, nor did she think it particularly odd that she would occasionally make enough food to feed two people.

The room at the top of the stairs remained devoid of life.

On one sunny Saturday morning, Kioku heard a knock at her front door. Setting down her coffee, she wandered over to the source of the noise, and answered it.

"Kairi?" she said, puzzled. Kioku hadn't seen the girl in a few months. Her hair was longer now, and her face thinner. She looked much older than when Kioku had seen her last.

"Hi, Ms. Kioku! How are you today?" Kairi inquired, an amicable smile across her face.

"Oh, I'm well," Kioku responded, still a little befuddled at the girl's presence. "How about you?"

Kairi stretched her arms into the sunlight and said, "With this weather, I couldn't be better!" She let out a youthful giggle and continued, "It's so nice out, I just thought I'd come over to see if…" She trailed off mid sentence.

Kioku found the girl's forgetfulness endearing. "Listen, do you want anything to eat or drink? I made some lemonade just yesterday. It should still be fre−"

"No thank you," Kairi interrupted. Her expression had shifted to one quite bleaker than its previous incarnation. "I didn't mean to bother you, Ms. Kioku. Sorry for being such a scatterbrain."

"It's alright dear," said the older woman, as a band of clouds began to roll in. "I've been doing my own share of forgetting lately, too."

**A/N**: I'M SORRY THIS TOOK SO LONG WOW.

I'm sorry! I knew this chapter would be difficult to write (because I wanted to make it clear that Kioku has forgotten about Sora without explicitly saying it), but then school happened, and then I would forget about this, and then I would remember it, but then I would remember how hard it would be to write BUT NOW IT'S DONE I DON'T CARE IF IT'S BAD AT LEAST I CAN MOVE ON NOW.

Please stick with me! Roxas will show up soon!


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